In the state of the art, chip cards are also known under the name of Smart-Cards or Memocards. Other known forms of card configurations are magnetic strip cards, hologram cards and laser cards. In addition, memory cards are known in the state of the art, which only consist of storage units with non-volatile memory, but do not possess any built-in intelligence. ("Chip Cards (Memocards) and Telecommunications"; George J. Lissandrello, Pacific Telecommunications Council; Honolulu, USA, 1986; pages 166-175). In contrast to these three types of cards, the chip card (Smart-Card) has a built-in "intelligence", with which calculation operations can be performed and access to the memory in the card can be controlled. These chip cards are used as "electronic money", as "electronic keys" or as "portable information storage". For example, when used for telecommunications, often dialed telephone numbers can be stored in the chip card, and recalled in public telephones under the "abbreviated address dialing" service feature ("Chip Cards; Cards with Memory"; Eberhard Schrother; Funkschau [Radio Show] 7/1988, pages 50-52).
Considerable memory and calculation capabilities can be implemented on a chip card, because of the increasingly improving semiconductor technology, whereby ever more functions can be stored in the same space due to the smaller size of the structures. Such chip cards with special control and safety logic serve as "electronic money", where the card is used in the form of a "prepaid card" or in the form of a "bookkeeping card". Furthermore, such cards allow access control ("From the Telephone Card to the Crypto-card"; Jurgen Hammerschmitt and Gert Krings; Telecom Report 14 (1991), volume 3; pages 158-161).